Although recent research has us believe that men are equally, if not more, into shopping than women, the reality is that the figures cobbled up by that survey in Britain – to demonstrate a change in men’s shopping patterns – is reflective of online shopping trends than mall or hypermarket buying. Most men have yet to warm up to the idea of going out shopping to spend hours browsing through the store aisles to pick an item of clothing, footwear or skincare. And that status quo might continue for a really long time, going by the male shopping jokes circulating on WhatsApp and Social Media. One of Instagram’s parody account, ‘Shopping with their ladies: The miserable men of Instagram’, in fact, captured photographic evidence of bored men waiting for their wives/partners outside shops and mall.
Men, seemingly, have an inherent aversion to shopping that is laced as therapeutic by the world of commercial marketers. And that is not heresy or stereotype; according to an American bimonthly magazine Psychology Today, there is evidence to indicate men’s dislike for shopping. Quoting a 2013 study conducted in Britain, the magazine states that men become bored after only 26 minutes of shopping! Women, on the other hand, can continue for another hour and a half. There is more: 80 per cent of men in the survey didn’t like shopping with their spouse/partner, 45 per cent strongly avoided it, and 50 per cent of them ended the shopping trips with arguments. These arguments, obviously, stemmed from the large differences in their individual shopping times.
Grab-And-Go Shoppers
Women are, generally, browsers, while men are search-and-retrieve shoppers who prefer to get in and out of the store in a jiffy. The search-and-retrieve or the grab-and-go shoppers are usually alone and are not in any mood to browse other aisles or check for best buys. They will simply follow the shopping list and not waver in their task. The ones who do accompany their partners might follow the wait-and-whine routine, often ensuring that the whining leads to a sudden brake in the shopping trip. Interestingly, there is also a segment of male shoppers who want to stubbornly toe the stereotype path and avoid shopping in the fear of earning a feminine tag. They fear that their masculinity will be threatened if they engage in a task that is seen as women’s.
So what kind of shopper are you? Would you classify yourself as the stereotypical bored shopper accompanying his wife/partner? Or are you a metrosexual male who prefers to deliberate over fashion and beauty products to get the best deal for yourself?
Types of Shoppers
Research conducted a couple of years ago to identify ‘Male Consumer Decision Making Styles’ classified male shoppers between the ages of 18 and 35 into six different types: confident shopper, fashion uninterested shopper, reluctant perfectionist shopper, confused and time-restricted shopper, value-seeking shopper and recreational trendsetting shopper.
The confident male shopper will only patronise brand outlets and department stores that promise quality products. In comparison, the fashion uninterested shopper is indifferent to brands or fashion dictates and will often pick items that are easy on the pocket. Like the confident shopper, the reluctant perfectionist shopper also hankers after fashion and style but is conversely wary of shopping, often resulting in the purchase of expensive products. The confused and time-constrained shopper is guided by whims than by brands; he is not really bothered about browsing or checking out better deals in other shops. In stark contrast is the value seeker who will take time and effort to scour for best deals and quality products and doesn’t shy away from comparing price and quality at different outlets.
Despite what the stereotypes insinuate, a small percentage of male shoppers are recreational trendsetters and genuinely love to shop. They see it as a fun event, one that allows them to give in to their fancy and buy trendy items despite the expensive tag on them. This category of shoppers comprises mostly of young men who openly indulge their sense of fashion with trendy buys from big brands.
And so, while the traditional male shopper stubbornly refuses to be typecast in any other mould than that of a grab-and-go shopper, the younger folks are definitely unabashed about their strong leanings towards shopping for fashion and style, whether it is purely as an online chore or a high street one. Many are, in reality, showing a clear preference to go out and shop in malls and department stores, as they do not see shopping as a masculinity sapping act…